Flat wire tying machine



Oct. 6, 1953 E. ROE 2,654,403

FLAT WIRE TYING MACHINE.

Filed May l5, 1950 fig. '7.

INVENTOR.

ERNEST ROE BY 7 7mmwl 7awm ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 6, 1953 UITED STATES rATsNT OFFICE FLAT WIRE TYING MACHINE Ernest Roe, San Francisco, Calif.

Application May 15, 1950, Serial No. 162,063

3 Claims. (Cl. 140-115) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in fiat wire tying machines and relates more particularly to the construction of a twister pinion for use in such machines which permits the employment of flat, as distinguished from round, wire. Heretofore automatic wire tying machines have employed round wire, but the use of fiat wire is preferable in that there is less tendency for the wire to cut into the container or merchandise about which it is placed.

There are at the present time a number of package tying machines which employ slotted twister pinions which are revolved in order to splice the ends of the wire together. Such conventional slotted pinions operate with round wire, but in practice it has been found to be impossible to splice fiat wires together with such pinions. The present invention is capable of employment in any of such machines where a slotted twister pinion is employed. For purpose of convenience, the invention will be described as used in connection with the machine illustrated in Patent No. 2,206,300, issued. July 2, 1940 upon application of G. A. Dunn et a1. Reference is hereby made to said Patent No. 2,206,300 for the details of construction of the machine. However, as has been stated, the invention is not confined to use in connection with the machine therein illustrated but may be used with any of the machines employing the slotted twister pinion principle. It will be understood that the instant invention may be incorporated in new machines or that the pinion hereinafter described may be installed in existing machines which are used for round wire tying in order to convert them to the use of flat wire.

It is, therefore, a principal object of the instant invention to provide a slotted twister pinion for use in automatic package tying machines, said pinion being so constructed and arranged that the machine may be used for flat wire. The use of flat, as distinguished from round, wire offers obvious advantages both because less flat wire than round wire must be used to tie a given package and, further, because the flat surfaces of fiat wire have less tendency to cut into the merchandise or container about which the wire is placed than does round wire.

Other objects and advantages of the invention wi11 become apparent upon reading of the following description of the invention and reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through the twister pinion and associated mechanism as employed in a package tying machine such as that illustrated partially in Figs. 8a and 9a of said Dunn patent No. 2,206,300.

Fig. 2 is a bottom planview of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1, except that the rack bar has been removed.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged schematic view showing a vertical mid-section through the twister pinion and flat wire immediately after insertion of said wire in the slot in said pinion, and before any twisting operation has begun.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view similar to Fig. 3 showing the twister pinion after it has revolved about 30.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 and showing the twister pinion after it has revolved just less than from the position shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section through the twister pinion and supporting bars taken substantially along the line "5-45 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the overlapped ends of a wire showing the splice which results from employment of the instant invention.

As has been stated, there is a considerable number of package tying machines on the market at the present time, said machines varying in the details of their construction. Many of these machines employ a slotted twister pinion, the wire to be tied being inserted into the slot in the pinion, and the pinion being caused to revolv thereby twisting the wire and forming a splice. Such machines are quite complicated in their constructions and a complete description thereof would unnecessarily complicate this specification of the invention. Further, it will be understood that the instant invention may be employed in connection with any machine which employs a slotted twister pinion or similar slotted revolvable means.

The structure shown in Dunn Patent No. 2,206,300 is one form of machine with which the instant invention may be employed. For purpose of convenience reference is hereby made to said machine, particularly to that portion of the modified structure shown in Figs. 8a and 9a, wherein it will be seen that the slotted twister pinion 20 is supported by means of the hollow integral trunnions 2 I at either end thereof, said trunnions 2| being received in stationary bars 22 at either end of the pinion. The pinion is caused to revolve upon reciprocatory movement of a rack bar 25 which engages an idler pinion also supported in said fixed bars, said idler pinion 2'! meshing with the twister pinion 20. It will be understood that the means for revolving the twister pinion 2c is subject to wide modification. However, in Figs. 1 and 2 are shown the twister pinion 20, idler 2|, and rack bar 26 similar to the corresponding named elements in Figs. 8a and. 9a of said Patent No. 2,206,300. Said rack bar 26 is caused to reciprocate horizontally by mechanism not shown in the drawings. Idler pinions 21 and twister pinion 20 both are provided with a trunnion 2! at each end thereof, said trunnions 22 being received in journals 28 in the stationary parallel bars 22 at either end of said pinions. Thus, as viewed in Fig. 1, when the rack bar 26 moves toward the right, twister pinion 26 is caused to revolve in a clockwise direction.

The pinion 2B which is the subject of the instant invention has a plurality of gear teeth 3! equally spaced about its circumference, said teeth being constructed to mesh with the corresponding teeth of idler pinion 2?. The teeth 3| are disposed centrally of the pinion and in either end is trunnion portion 21 formed integral with the pinion. The trunnion portion 2! is hollow by reason of being bored out as indicated by reference numeral 32 and the ends of the bore portions are countersunk as indicated by reference numeral 33. cumference of the pinion is a slot 35, it being understood that said slot is positioned so as to cut away as little of the teeth 3! of the pinion as possible. The slot 38 is provided with a wide portion 3? adj acent the circumference of the pinion and a narrow portion 38 interiorly thereof. The width of the wide portion 37 of the slot is preferably made slightly greater than the width of the fiat wire 39 to be twisted and the width of the narrow portion 38 of the slot is preferably made slightly greater than twice the thickness of said flat wire 39. The depth of the narrow portion of the slot is greater than the width of said flat wire. The slot extends inwardly beyond the central axis of the pinion so that the center of the overlapped pairs of wires approximately coincides with said central axis (see Fig. For purpose of definition it will be understood that the greater transverse dimension or" the wire is termed the width and the lesser transverse dimension of the wire is termed the thickness.

A shoulder 41, xtending lengthwise of the central portion of the pinion is disposed at the bottom of the wide portion 31 of the slot 36, the surface of said shoulder being perpendicular to a radius bisecting the narrow portion 38 of the slot. Said shoulder M is an important feature of the twister pinion in that it provides an abutment against which a portion of the overlapped fiat wire 39 may rest upon insertion in the slot in the pinion as best shown in Fig. 3. Thus, shoulder l! accurately locates the overlapped wire 39 within slot 38 prior to the twisting operation. The wire is wrapped around the container etc. being .tied so that the flat side of the wire lies fiat against said container. The wire is likewise kept under tension by the gripper mechanism of said Patent No. 2,205,300. Thus, the wire is held against th shoulder i! by the tension, and there is no tendency of the wire to twist and out into the container except in the region where the splice is made. As the pinion revolves (i. e., see Fig. 4) the flat wire rocks about the edge of the shoulder 4! as at fulcrum and slips into the narrow portion 38 of the slot 36 of the pinion. In order to facilitate entry of the wire into the narrow portion of the slot, the radially extending surface of the narrow portion of the slot oppo- Cut radially inwardly from the cirsite the shoulder is relieved, as indicated by reference numeral 42 so that the corner of the wire 39 does not interfere with entry of the wire into the slot. In Fig. 5 the overlapped wire 39 is shown located within the slot after the pinion has revolved slightly less than from its initial position shown in Fig. 3. It will be understood that the wire is thus in position within the narrow portion 38 of th slot 36 and upon further revolution of the pinion as through the required number of turns, which number of turns is optional, a proper splice 43 such as that shown enlarged in Fig. 7 is obtained. The wire is then withdrawn from the slot 36 oi the pinion as well understood in this art. The narrow portion 33 of the slot 36 is disposed with its walls approximately equidistant from a diametrical plane.

The wide portion 31 of the slot above the shoulder M is ofiset from said diametrical plane in the direction of rotation of the pinion 20.

In operation, by means not shown but well understood in this art, the overlapped wire 39 is inserted in the pinion 2i], the countersunk ends 33 of the hollow trunnion portions 32 and the trunnion portions themselves facilitating insertion of the wire. The flat side of one end of wire 39 rests upon the shoulder 4| and the other end of the wire 39 is drawn tight against the first wire as shown in Fig. 3. As the twister pinion revolves the edges of the wire 39 move into the narrow portion 33 of the slot 36 until they assume the position shown in Fig. 5. Further rotation of the twister pinion results in a splice 3, the end product being illustrated enlarged in Fig. 7. The central part it of splice i3 is flat since this portion Was held in narrow portion 38. At either side of said central portion 46 is a twisted portion ill which fixes the ends of wire 39 permanently tied together. Twisting is performed in the hollow portions 32 of trunnions 3i.

Although the present invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it is understood that certain changes in modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention and scop of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine for tying fiat wire, a revoluble member having a longitudinal slot extending radially outward from the axis of said pinion, a shoulder in said slot extending outward from one radial wall of said slot in a direction toward and normal to the opposite wall of the slot, said shoulder being located in the slot wall which precedes the opposite wall in the direction of rotation of the pinion and adapted to receive a flat surface of one overlapped fiat wire in abutting relation, the portion of said slot disposed inwardly of said shoulder being dimensioned to receive a zone of said overlapped wires and prevent the same from slipping during twisting of said member, the portion of said slot located radially outward of said shoulder being wider than said portion located radially inward of said shoulder, and means for revolving said revoluble member.

2. A twister pinion for wire twisting machines of the type in which an overlapped flat-Wire is inserted in a slot in a revoluble pinion and the overlapped portions are twisted together to form a splice in which said pinion is formed with a longitudinal slot extending radially outward from the axis of said pinion, said slot having a narrower and a wider portion with the wider portion located radially outward from the narrower portion and a substantially fiat shoulder extending out from one radial Wall of said slot in Number Name Date a direction toward and normal to the opposite 899,014 Lyon Sept. 15, 1908 wall of the slot, said shoulder bein located in 1,456,127 Grieves Oct. 21, 1924 the slot wall which precedes the opposite wall 1,494,257 Krueger May 13, 1924 in the direction of rotation of the pinion. 5 1,495,072 Gerrard May 20, 1924 3. A twister pinion as defined in claim 2 and 1,512,532 Gerrard May 22, 1927 in which the width of the wide portion of said 1,669,048 Gerrard May 8, 19 8 slot is substantially twice the width of the nar- 1,971,021 Spoor Aug. 21, 1934 row portion of said slot.

ERNEST ROE. 10

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 15 868,178 Goughour Oct. 15, 1907 

